


The Day Before Yesterday

by Yuko6754



Series: Fragments [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Amnesia, Found Family, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hopeful Ending, POV Alternating, no happy ending
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-01
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2020-04-05 23:33:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19050739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yuko6754/pseuds/Yuko6754
Summary: Sapaia (re)learns about his little sister's death from the man who killed her.





	The Day Before Yesterday

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place fairly shortly after Caj brings Sapaia back from the brink. This would take place the first time Sapaia wakes up after the initial recovery.

“Is Miki here?”

All the warmth in the atmosphere dissipates the moment the words leave Sapaia’s lips. Jae-Chung’s heart skips a beat and he tightens his grip on his spear.

There is a soft rustle of cloth, as if someone is making to rise, and Kiha's deep voice shatters the silence.

“Your sister is dead.”

Jae-Chung winces. Definitely not the way he would have broken the news. If possible, the air grows even colder, and Jae-Chung strains his ears, his nose, any and everything he has. He needs to see, in whatever capacity that winds up being.

“You never were very good at jokes.”

His best friend’s voice is brittle and tight. Chilling.

Jae-Chung’s body is a tensed coil, ears straining for any sign he should leap into action - whether to aid either friend or former superior, he isn’t quite sure.

“My inability to joke is not the issue here. Your sister is dead, Sapaia.”

“I don’t believe you.”

But he does. Jae-Chung can hear the lie in the subtle tremor of his words, and it is _agonizing_. 

“Then look. I did not raise you to be a coward.”

“No, you raised me to be a killer.”

The words rip from Sapaia's throat in a burst of pure impulsivity, and he stares, shell-shocked, at Kiha _(mentor, father figure)_. The words had spilled from somewhere deep, dark, and still unknown inside of his fractured memories. He doesn’t care to explore further. Sapaia doesn’t want to feel such negativity towards a man who all but raised him, but he cannot deny the anger - the _rage_ \- dwelling just beneath the surface.

Solid, unwavering green eyes stare him down, and Sapaia quiets his seething thoughts.

“Before  you make judgments on either of us, I want you to _look_.”

Sapaia grinds his teeth hard enough his jaw aches, and his eyes dart to the window where his best friend sits. He can see the tension lining Jae-Chung's body and somehow that helps center him. Sapaia inhales deeply and finally looks back at Kiha and locks their gazes together.

Kiha is prepared for it, in a way, but there's still an unsettling eeriness about someone stepping into his mind. The sudden drop in his stomach is his only warning before

_golden eyes in a pale face that knows far too much. The utter lack of fear gives Kiha's knife pause._

_“You aren't scared.”_

_“‘Inevitable’.” She grins lopsidedly, revealing a small pair of fangs. “Mommy loved that word. She used it when she had to leave.”_

_Kiha frowns. “You're saying your death is inevitable. Why?”_

_He never receives an answer, is only treated to another fanged grin._

_“Thank you for looking after my big brother.”_

_“This is not a transaction. You will still--”_

_“Die, I know, but I had to thank you.”_

_There's a childish impatience to her words and voice, and something about that pings a long, long forgotten nerve. He feels sick._

_Kiha stifles the budding sympathetic sorrow before it has a chance to take root and he loses his edge. If he doesn't kill the child here and now, someone else would be sent - and they would be far less merciful._

_“Close your eyes.”_

_“Don't wanna.”_

_The corner of Kiha's mouth twitches. He doesn't smile._

_“As you wish.”_

_He wants to ask more, wants to ask why, but he isn't what he is because he asks questions. He is what he is because he does what he's told._

_The least he can do for her is kill her quickly and painless_

“Don't you _dare!_ You _don't_ get to think that!”

Scarred hands brace against Sapaia's shoulders as the vampire violently lunges for Kiha's throat. The urge to tear into him, to sink his fangs in as deep as possible and gnaw down to the bone is all-consuming. 

Sapaia is livid. 

The loathing courses through his veins like one of his fast-acting poisons, and he twists against the second set of hands on his waist as he manages to topple Kiha to the floor. 

“ _Why! Why_ didn't you just--” 

His hatred - a red-hot, living, tangible _thing_ \- dissipates all at once, and Sapaia goes limp in Jae-Chung's grasp. His head bows down and Kiha feels the tears soak into his clothing. 

“ _Why_ didn't you just wait and kill me, too?!”

Kiha sighs and sits, holding Sapaia's boneless body close as he sobs into Kiha's shoulder. He looks at Jae-Chung over the quivering back, and reaches forward to tap the back of the young man's hand. 

Jae-Chung pulls back but remains close, and for that, Kiha wants to draw him into an embrace as well. 

From rage-filled, mindless screams to forlorn, sobbing wails, Sapaia clings to Kiha hard enough his joints protest. The anguished question still hangs dangerously  in the heavy atmosphere, awaiting acknowledgement, awaiting an answer. 

Kiha doesn't speak. Doesn't give voice to the thoughts spiraling in his mind. He only leans forward and at last draws the anxiously hovering Jae-Chung into the embrace as well, while Sapaia's agonized grief drives him towards exhaustion.


End file.
